SPORTING.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 70, 26 March 1901, Page 3

SPORTING.

(Special to Times). Auckland, last night,

Seldom or never have the Auckland racin'' public witnessed such an exhibition of riding as that which took place in a recent pony race. The horse referred to was ridden across the course in a zig-zag manner as often as an opportunity presented itself. The rider was seen to make strenuous efforts to pull up his mount, but notwithstanding his exertions, the pony looked a winner until the last hundred feet from home. The rider again tested his arms with success, and lost the race. He was hooted by the public as they have never hooted before. If such a state of affairs as this is allowed to exist, the “sport of kings” will soon degenerate. I think it would have been a stop in the right direction if the rider, horse, and owner were disqualified for life. .Timmy Buchanan was the most successful jockey engaged at the Ohincmuri meeting last week, lie was successful in three races on the first day. As I have often remarked, the sporting public would do well to follow up this smart Gisborno rider’s mounts. At the Waihi races, the Cup resulted: Repetition 1, Swiftfoot 2, St. Ona 8. Div. ;£1 12s. Maiden : I’uhia 1. Div. £o 14s. Hurdles : Lightning 1. Div. 42185. McMurdy Stakes : The Frenchman 1. Div. 15s. Forced Handicap : The Frenchman 1. Div. Tll9s.

Advance furnished good copy for the 1 Australian sporting scribes. “ Aprc- ' mantus,” speaking of him just before the 1 Newmarket was run, says : “ The grand ( Now Zealander, Advance, had about as ' largo an assembly as Wakeful, each and all'of whom agreed that they had never j seon a grander racehorse ; of course there • was the opinion that he would havo been J better if ho had been here a few weeks J longor." The same writer in reviewing tho°raco remarks : ‘ Advance would pro- ' bably have troubled the winner had he 1 been ridden in the Tod Sloan style, for by 1 Tho time the race was run the wind was in > their teeth from the south, and yet Advance’s jockey sat bolt upright! As Wake- ; ful was in receipt of 821 b from Fulminate, the honours of the race—but not the bets —belongs to her and the New Zealander. The time, 1.153, was nothing like the record, but then they had the wind in their teeth all the way, so it may be accounted good.” “ Tirjinga,” recognised sporting authority in Victoria, writes in this strain about the same race : “ Advance ran a grand race, just dying out in the last hundred yards. He must have cost the New Zealanders a lot of money, and they would jhavc lost more if it could have been got on. The Australian public do not bet on a Newmarket as they do on a Melbourne Cup, and three or four big . commissions from Maoriland could not be executed. It was a bad betting race this year, and the bookmakers must have got a rogular scorching on Saturdav, as every race was won by a first favorite. Advance was the observed of all observers as he strode round the birdcage before the race. There is no mistake about the confident, ‘ jolly ’ style in which he walks round. Ho seemed to spring off the ground like a bit of india-rubber. He is not a big horse, as far as height goes, but he has any amount of reach and great power. Wakeful is a good deal after the style of Aurum, and a perfect model to follow. She probably does not stand more than 15.1, but she has great depth, nice length, and excepting that she may be a little short in the neck, about as shapely as horses are made. Owing to her robust middle, many thought Wakeful a bit above herself, but this was a mistake. All Mr Macdonald’s horses look well to the eye when brought out to race, because be does not believe in training them fine, but they probably get as much galloping as other people’s.”